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Yamaha Motor Europe Confirm Extended WorldSBK Line Up For 2019

Yamaha Motor Europe is delighted to announce its official line up for the 2019 FIM Superbike World Championship. The Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team will once again lead the way as Yamaha’s reference team, but this year they’ll be joined on the grid by the GRT Yamaha Supported WorldSBK Team, who step up to the premier production class for the 2019 season.

2019 marks the fourth year for the partnership between Yamaha and Crescent Racing and both parties are keen to build on the success of the 2018 season, during which the Pata Yamaha WorldSBK riders, Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes, secured three race wins and a total of 14 podium finishes between them. Van der Mark and Lowes remain with the team for the coming season, with both keen to add to their tally of wins as they look to challenge for the championship in 2019.

Having achieved everything possible in WorldSSP, including winning the World Championship crown in 2017, GRT Yamaha face a new challenge in 2019, as the team step up to contest the FIM Superbike World Championship for the first time. Former 250cc World Champion and WorldSBK race winner Marco Melandri is joined at GRT Yamaha by the reigning WorldSSP Champion Sandro Cortese, who swaps last year’s title-winning YZF-R6 for the race winning Yamaha YZF-R1 WorldSBK machine this season.

The Pata Yamaha and GRT Yamaha teams are currently testing in Europe, but in February both teams will head south of the equator to test and then race at the iconic Phillip Island Circuit in Australia, venue for the opening round of the 2019 FIM Superbike World Championship.

Andrea Dosoli Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Manager “We are pleased with the way the Yamaha Motor Europe racing program has progressed. We saw a clear improvement in 2018, with not just our YZF-R1 reaching maturity but also our racing operation at the track and our operation in the factory. For this reason I’m very happy to confirm our relationship with Crescent Racing as our reference team in WorldSBK will continue for the 2019 season, with Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes as the riders once again. I truly believe that continuity is critical for success in motorsport. If we can continue to work in the same way as we did in 2018 and strive to achieve the consistency that was maybe missing last year, I am confident we can make a further step in the right direction. The 2019 season will be a strategic one for us. The arrival of GRT Yamaha in WorldSBK means we now have four riders on the grid, which gives us a good opportunity to speed up development of the bike, but it’s also the final piece in our rider development program. We now have a program in place for young riders that starts with the Yamaha bLU cRU project and extends all the way to WorldSBK with a competitive machine and a competitive team. So I’m pleased to welcome GRT Yamaha to WorldSBK with Marco Melandri and Sandri Cortese, with the latter, having won the 2018 WorldSSP Championship aboard a Yamaha, being a clear example of the rider development program in action.”

World Superbike

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GRT Yamaha Step Up to WorldSBK with Melandri and Cortese in 2019

Yamaha Motor Europe is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached with Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese that will see the two riders campaign race proven, factory supported Yamaha YZF-R1 machines for the  Team, who will step up to contest the FIM World Superbike Championship in 2019.

The move to the premier class for GRT Yamaha comes after two incredibly successful seasons in the FIM World Supersport Championship. In 2017 the team secured the world title with Lucas Mahias, who returned with the team in 2018 to finish as runner up to Cortese in the championship. GRT Yamaha also finished both seasons as the top team in the series, making a significant contribution to Yamaha’s domination of the class.

While GRT Yamaha will be new to the FIM World Superbike Championship in 2019, in Melandri and Cortese they have two riders with vast experience gained in both prototype and production racing. This experience will be critical as the team adapt to the demands of racing in the premier production class.

A former 250cc World Champion and MotoGP race winner, Melandri has claimed an impressive 72 podium finishes, including 22 race wins, since making his debut in the FIM World Superbike Championship aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1 back in 2011. The 36-year-old from Ravenna in Italy was second in the championship that year, his best result to date, but has finished inside the top five in every season he’s contested since.

Although 2019 will be Cortese’s first season in the FIM World Superbike Championship he also brings a wealth of experience with him to the GRT Yamaha team. The 28-year-old German took five race wins and 10 podium finishes on his way to being crowned as the first ever Moto3 World Champion in 2012. Cortese is also the reigning World Supersport Champion, having secured the title in his debut season in the class aboard a Yamaha YZF-R6 with a podium finish in the final round in Qatar.

Melandri and Cortese will get their first opportunity to test the Yamaha YZF-R1 they’ll campaign in GRT Yamaha colours in 2019 during a two-day test at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain, which gets underway on 26th November.

Sandro Cortese GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team “To win the WorldSSP championship and then step up to WorldSBK with the GRT Yamaha Team is like a dream come true for me. I’m super happy to be a part of this new project and, although it’s a big step, I am really looking forward to the challenge. I can’t wait to jump on the Yamaha YZF-R1 for the first time in Jerez later this month to start the familiarisation process. It will be like Christmas for me; I’ve never ridden such a big bike before and I am like a small kid who can’t wait to get his present! The bike will be more physically demanding to ride than the Yamaha YZF-R6 and, with three races every weekend instead of just one next year, I will definitely need to work on my fitness over the winter to ensure I’m ready.”

Filippo Conti GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Manager “I am really delighted to be stepping up to the WorldSBK championship with Yamaha, it’s like a dream come true. We started this project in WorldSSP and now we are moving up to WorldSBK, which is very important for the team but also for Yamaha’s production racing program. It’s a big step for us and we know we will be facing a steep learning curve in our debut season, but our two riders bring with them a wealth of experience. Riders don’t come more experienced than Marco, who has been a frontrunner in WorldSBK since he came to the championship in 2011. And while 2019 will be Sandro’s first season on a WorldSBK machine, he’s the reigning WorldSSP champion and a former Moto3 World Champion, so I expect him to adapt quickly to our Yamaha YZF-R1. We need to learn a lot in this new category, but our target is clear; we want to be as competitive in WorldSBK as we have been in WorldSSP. Maybe this isn’t possible in our debut season, but that’s the goal for the future.”

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Jules Cluzel vs Sandro Cortese: The runner-up vs the rookie

One of the most highly anticipated battles of the year, the FIM Supersport World Championship is set to go down to the wire in , as the title fight comes down to just two riders: Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) and Jules Cluzel (NRT). Hosting the traditional season closer, Losail International Circuit is used to seeing some stunning battles on track, and is the perfect setting. With its fast corners and overtaking hotspots, the 5.6k circuit is set to set the world alight as six points stand between the duo and the crown.

Preparing to take on the Losail International Circuit for the first time on his YZF-R6 machine, Sandro Cortese has a vast amount of experience around the desert-ridden track and will be putting his all into getting the title. Racing around the track for the last 13 seasons with the 125cc World Championship, Moto3™ and Moto2™ series, the German will be searching for his fourth podium finish but most importantly his first win under the floodlights. Never finishing outside of the top six so far in 2018, Cortese has shown his secret is consistency, but can he take his first victory since Donington Park in May? All he needs is a top three finish and the crown is his… whatever happens.

Fully charged and ready for the battle, Jules Cluzel won’t be going down without a fight in Qatar, and showed his desire to take the win last time out in Argentina. Winning the race in dominant style, his emotions were clear from the moment he crossed the line, and the four time WorldSSP runner up has been calling on his fellow competitors to help him this weekend. Racing in the class for six seasons, he is the ‘nearly-man’ and will be putting everything into becoming the ‘winning man’. Taking pole here in 2014, the Frenchman is yet to win at Qatar, and will be pushing to do so this weekend. With seven podiums and five wins to his name this season, he will be ready to take the battle right to the final mm.

Elsewhere on the WorldSSP grid, GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team-mates Lucas Mahias and Federico Caricasulo will be pushing to end their season on a high after a recent surge in results for the pair. Aiming for the team’s world title, the duo will be focusing on their own races and will be hoping to both cross the finish line after some bad luck in recent rounds.

But the season’s underdog Rafalle De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) has impressed all season with his consistent run of podium finishes. But this has dropped off in recent rounds, meaning the Italian will be looking to take home one more trophy to top off a strong season. With six podiums in a row, he has been unable to break the second position duck, but he has been the only man to challenge the Yamaha’s this season. Sitting in sixth in the championship standings, he will be pushing for that top five to end the season on a high.

Don’t miss out the battle for the world title, which concludes at 17.30LT (+3 GMT) on Saturday 27th October, for what will be a 15 lap thriller. Will it be Cortese or Cluzel?

World Superbike

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Sandro Cortese clinches third WorldSSP Superpole of 2018

Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) took his third Tissot Superpole of the season with a stunning final lap, running six tenths of a second faster than the riders preceding him and putting him in a perfect position to extend his championship lead.

In a season marked by the tiny margins separating all the top riders, Cortese was overcome early on by Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team), with the Swiss rider taking the lead in his first lap and keeping it until Cortese’s amazing run, with 50 seconds to go before the checkered flag. The Swiss rider couldn’t improve his lap time at the end, however he returns to the front row ins second, and could put up a thrilling battle tomorrow.

The front row will be completed by Jules Cluzel (NRT), second in the standings, setting up the top-end fight for tomorrow. They will come under intense pressure from Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) however, with the Italian adamant to claim a fourth successive podium. He will start in fourth despite a late crash, leading row two ahead of the two GRT riders. Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) had the better of his teammate Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) this time, taking fifth on the grid, with the Italian in sixth.

Row three will see Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) putting his F3 675 on the grid in seventh, in front of Anthony West (EAB antwest Racing) in eighth, and Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in ninth. The top ten on Saturday was completed by Thomas Gradinger (NRT) in tenth place, with Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) and Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), through from the Superpole 2, in eleventh and twelfth respectively.

Can Cluzel or Cortese snatch their third win of the season? Or will a third rider overcome their dominance?

Pole Position: Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) “I feel really good, I had a crash yesterday and we didn’t know where we were with our pace and this morning I felt good again. I was quite surprised when I saw the lap time. I made some mistakes in my first exit, but I was still fast so I kept calm and tried to have a clean line. When I saw the lap time I thought ‘ok this should be OK for the pole’!”

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Sandro Cortese blows open WorldSSP title race with stunning UK win

Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) took the second win of his FIM Supersport World Championship career with a cool, controlled ride in his first venture to Donington Park in nine years. The German shot up to second at the start, and after taking the lead one third into the race managed to defend his lead professionally to the checkered flag in a three-way battle with Jules Cluzel (NRT) and Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag), second and third.

The race start saw Cluzel shoot off into the lead from pole, building a 0.7 gap with Cortese by lap 1. Defending champion Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) fell to fourth, with De Rosa making the best of the inside line and climbing to third.

After Hiraki Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) crashed out 5 laps in, two packs of three led the race action. Cortese found the moment to attack in lap 8, his one aggressive move through all 20 laps. The German found a gap at Coppice Corner with Cluzel going wide, and sliced in like a hot knife through butter, taking the inside line and rubbing shoulders with the NRT rider. Pushing forward, there was no stopping Cortese with an open track ahead.

De Rosa took advantage of the pair’s squabbles, closing the small gap and setting up a thrilling second half of the race. His moment to push came with five laps to go, pushing up to second over Cluzel after a mistake from the Frenchman. But with one to go, Cluzel struck back, taking another 20 points and confirming that he’s a hot favourite for the title. De Rosa, meanwhile, scores his third consecutive third-place finish, an astonishing feat for the MV Agusta in a Yamaha-heavy top end.

The two WorldSSP leaders up to this point led another stunning battle, but not quite as high up the field as they might have preferred. Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) won this duel the hard way, passing Mahias first at the Old Hairpin, falling back 10 laps later after a huge, race-threatening wobble, before pushing behind the Frenchman again with a lap to go. Fourth and fifth for the pair, respectively, who now fall to third and fourth in the championship, behind the Donington top-2.

Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) struggled to keep up with the leading pace from a seventh position start, and with his sixth place at Donington falls behind in the championship standings.

Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was the best of the rest at the UK Round, meeting the flag in seventh position, with Thomas Gradinger (NRT) in eighth. Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), returning to racing action at Donington, also made it into the top-ten in ninth, with Andrew Irwin (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) the first of the home riders here at Donington, in tenth. P1 – Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) “It was a really rough and hard race, its so physically hard at this track. But from the beginning onwards I felt quote good and the pace was very high from Jules. After five laps I thought I had to overtake and get my pace because in the last few races I waited and missed my chance. After I overtook Jules and it took some laps but i got my rhythm and I felt great, so a big thanks to my team after the changes we made over night, its a great feeling.”

#UKWorldSBK WorldSSP at Donington Park – Race 1. Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) 2. Jules Cluzel (NRT) +1.377 3. Rafaelle de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) +2.676